Straining equipment



Filed Sept. 21, 1939 Patented Dec. 23, 1941 SIR MAILING Daniel Raymond Me Neal Abington, Pa., assignis i vention relat s .to lstr i in i ou pmenti and is, part eularly. useful. water a supply; ssl-ss-w tems for large industrial plantswh fih drawadi fl ee i i rom a ver. n ot er source. oil supp y wh h may hie-burd ned wi h. eonsidemblewqu ne. tities of .rubb is h, suchas st,icks, leayes, and trash of;one kindor another" In systems of this kind it is customaryto strain, thewater as it; is drawn, from the. .riverby means 7 of some suitable ,cont inuous1y operating; strainer. devi elwhich n e; lean diwhile theisystemris in operation, so. as, to avoid all, interruptions to, su ply. Th estra ners. c tomarily employed m ke se; of; a. str ining, element which is com? se f p uralit of. sections whieh may besuccessively isolated; and: removed ,frorn semicei d eanedby rererselofifiuid flow withoutim terrupting thelseryioe throughtl iabalanoe of the strain e qnss Strainersaof th pkindtspeeie iedmay ta e varioussformst but thetbestexeme plifieation thereof iszprobablmthe. rotary, type of; strainer shown, for. example, in my: Patent, 2 057 9 i view; 0i" wh ch; he, invention Ii'thQ, present application will; be, shown, and described, eds-embodied in a rotary! strainer oflthiskind.

'lfheprinoipal' obj ect. of; the invention is teen.- sure a positive and constant supply of waten whioh is thoroughly, cleaned by, means, of; a, strainer of the character described; In'attainr ing this object itiszmy, ain to avoid all= possibility .oi air entering the suctionl line. of the main. 1 mm,. h his di f u ty n i frequently. en.- countered with present systems, It is. also an. object; o fthe invention to avoid'the.. ne ce s sity.

for; introducing a valve in" the washuwateri or 35 cleaning fluid supply line, although suoh. a valve may be employed if desired, However, byeliininating a val ve at thistpoint, it is possible to simplify the installation and reduce its cost, which is, a is inct adyantage, pa t s larly-in la eleanae. ity systems, where valves for this purpose. would. have to be unusually large: and expensive.

Still another, object of the inventign is to pro; de a s em n. which, up e e tem boo te pumn s. mpl ed o main n g the, :5;

p op p ssur in e t n n i an per-M ticularly in that portion of the stran ingunit which is being subjected to a cleaningoperat p Another object is to so arrangethe. installation as to avoid all possibility of; reverse opera-: tion of the booster pump, i. e., operation-thereofunder the influence of pressure from the source of wash water supply. This has sometimes occurred in previous. installations where the. wash water is taken from the discharge. side. at the i d n him i Y pheric.

f t l rther n bieqt. Q h nyenti9u eside n theo revisi io fls s te. i whiqhenlm teem; neretiv ysh ti ineisi e ui esi enb r' si we hwater ppl ethel ean-kqu section ei h ty. strainer,

By, nven i n I v lsetprpridei qr aflew L wash watertwhiqh il -1 13 'ILD 'QSHS IQe nz idelllillm e m-ates so e! nd. thesame time,

Qhsre-the upnly at. a. a. v; v, i ndepe i newtshe. i hly a yin ter enuirements:

n summers h imuot nv n iens nr videt o more den nciehle e yiee Qt h .vcl) meetn ne; a m t stelletiq iendi t neneeicest-i upne -nentiqn; o wh h sibie en. 9 rete ertein de ei siusee e dreu iehe m Pum s-V t ope ated b eny ui ab e ne er eans thr uehi hegsha ti 2, drews s upplx rpm ki fi-Y 1 ith .ns s hef. Suction n .1 nd de irers t Q-thmintnn m nts; e nu e r u h eli ery. 1. 9 t e dire ti h t. w ei nsiieei si he ut e Pi e 9, mi dfi; Betuenitheseetiens4e nd; 5-. he. ue ie ne nt oduq a ot rainer i h t e w ieh s u es ribed; and a me n my; ar ier; a en ppve i e tioned- Inasmuches thestreinei. heated m,- h us ien. i e. t e ebtiq s. tha ll heinne ure-eXi t nen he l ibu ne l betlienrese. u e, which; w l; st nf t ain te sing: am Wish t. o n i iat. lee t i ev Pressure, e, res; sure les sithan atmospherie,

1 uit le-easiest "The strainer. I .v con prl which amount d upon a 'shai t llar'otarystrain the eel 1 e; l sit likieflhd; bear n s; d h que t m dium 0t an s itable squ pe o power, t eshatt 8 .isvused-tois wl re: atet e straines wheel 9., n tellnet er.--

The straining wheel 9, as is more fully ill trated and described in my earlier Patent 2,057,497, is provided with a series of spokes or radial division members II between which are carried suitable straining elements I2 of any desired character. In the figure these elements are shown as being located to the right of the center of the straining-wheel 9, in order to provide a series of straining pockets I3 between the spokes I I, in which pockets the debris may collect. As

the wheel rotates, the straining pockets are sucj cessively brought between the oppositely disposed clean-out boxes I4 and I5, in which position fluid may be applied in a reverse direction to wash or clean the straining elements, the cleaning fluid coming in through the supply pipe I6 and passing out through the line I! which is ar-, ranged to discharge into the-river or other source 7 invention completely eliminates this diificulty.

As will be readily understood by those skilled in this art, my improvements make it possible to achieve the objectives set forth in the beginning of this specification, but it might be pointed out that, in service, the pressure in the delivery 6 will vary over a considerable range, depending upon of supply at a point well away from the suction line 4 There aresuitable passages within the strainer casing for conveying the clean-out water to and away from the clean-out boxes which need not be particularly described becausein and of themselves they are well known in the artand form no part of the present invention.

The faces of the wheel 9, where they come bpposite the clean-out boxes I4 and I5, are tightly sealed by means of suitable resilientor rubber gasket means I8, the nature and function of which are more fully illustrated and described in my patent already referred to. Sufiice it to say for the present application that these sealing devices I8 efiectively prevent leakage of fluid in eitherdirection between'the straining circulation and the wash circulation, the former circulation taking place from the section 4 to the sec tion 5 of the suction line through all of those straining pockets which are not in line with-the clean-out boxes I4 and I5. The wheel 3 is sealed at its periphery by means of a suitable sealing device I9, so that the water or fluid to be strained may not pass from one side to the other, except through th strainer. Inother words, the'water which is being strained 'enters at 4, passes through the straining wheel 9 over that area which is not opposite the clean-out boxes I4 and I5 and then leaves through-thepipe 5. At the same-time, the wash water enters through the pipe I6 and then passes from the clean-out box I 4 to the clean-out box I5 after traversing the straining element-which is in position between the two boxes, the direction of flovrof the washwater, of course, being opposite to that which takes place in that portion of the strainer which is efiecting the straining operation. The direction of flow is indicated by the arrows.

It will be noted that the wash water pipe I6 receives its supply from the suction line 5 at a, point between the strainer I and the main pump I. In the wash watersupply line It is a booster pump driven in any suitable'manner, preferably bymeans of the electric motor ZI having the current supply lines 22' and 23.

Whenever the main pump Iis operating to deliver water to 'the'supply system, the motor 2| should be operated to run the pump' 23 inorder to supply cleaning fluid to wash out the collected debris, and thespeed ofoperation of the pump 20 must be such as to develop a'pressure higher than atmospheric in the clean-out boxes I-I5 and the wash water discharge line II. This avoids all possibility of air entering the line H and interfering with the proper functioning of the main pump I, in which connection it must not be overlooked that as the strainer wheel 9 the demand for water. If the wash water pipe I6 were to be supplied from the pipe 6, as has been customary in this art, these variations would have a direct bearing upon the uniformity of the cleaning operation.

With my invention, however, this difiiculty does not arise. Furthermore, if the wash water pipe It were to be supplied from the pipe 6, it would be essential that some sort of a valve be introduced into the line IS in addition to the booster pump 20, because without such a valve it would be impossible to positively close off the line It so that at times of relatively high'pressure in the line 6 it might sometimes happen that the booster pump 20 would be run in reverse direction under the influence of the flow of water from pipe 6 through pipe It. The necessity for such a valve in the pipe I5 is overcome by my invention, although a valve may be introduced for the purpose of completely shutting off the line I6 should it be necessary to remove the pump 20 for repair or replacement. Such a shut-01f valve, however,

need not be particularly expensive because it is not necessary to operate it automatically as is re quired for satisfactory operation of the system when the pipe I6 is fed from the pipe 6.

Another distinct advantage incident to my invention is to be found in the fact that the supply line I5 can be made extremely shortwhereas it might Very well have to be unduly long were it to be supplied from the pipe 6 because the main pump I is frequently located at a considerable distance from the strainer I. In fact, a series of main pumps may be necessary in extensive installations, and if the supply is to be taken from the discharge side of the main pump system it is obvious that a much longer supply pipe It would have to be employed.

In short it will be seen that my improvements make possible the provision of an entirely uniform pressure of cleaning fluid, regardless of all variations in the demand for water by the system as a whole and this in spite of the fact that the wash water supply is taken from a point in advance of the main pump where the pressure during operation of the system is less than atmospheric. At the same time I provide a system in which the main supply is independent of the highly varying demand for wash water.

What I claim is:

1. In a fluid supply system, the combination of a strainer casing having an inlet line and an outlet line, a main pump in the outlet line for drawing the fluid through the strainer casing, a rotary strainer member arranged in the path of How through said strainercasing a pair of oppositely disposed clean-out boxes adjacent the path of movement of said rotary member, a line for supplying washing fluid to one of said clean-out boxes and discharging it through the other, said washing fluid supply line being connected to the outlet line of the strainer casing at a point between the strainer and the pump in said outlet line, the direction of flow of the washing fluid through the strainer being opposite to the direction of flow of the fluid being cleaned, together with a booster pump in the washing fluid supply line adapted to circulate the cleaning fluid and maintain its pressure at a point above atmospheric pressure.

2. In a fluid supply system having a continuously operating straining equipment wherein the strainer includes a plurality of sections which may be successively isolated and cleaned by reversal of fluid flow without interruption of service through the remaining sections, the combination of a main pump and a suction line for drawing the fluid through the strainer, a line for supplying Washing fluid to the isolated strainer section, said last line being connected to said suction line at a point between the strainer and the main 10 pump, and a booster pump in the Washing fluid 

